The effect of the American stereotypes in the
formation of the middle class Greek family
image in the post-war print advertisements
El efecto de los estereotipos americanos en los anuncios
impresos de la posguerra y la formación de la imagen de la
familia griega de clase media
Johannis Tsoumas
Hellenic Open University/ Technological EDucational Institute of Athens
[email protected]
Recibido: 12 de junio de 2014
Aprobado: 12 de junio de 2015
Abstract
This research aims to capture the value of the first, mass-produced, women’s magazines advertising
in post-war Greece regarding the identification, the analysis and the morphology of both the middle class
Greek family image and ideal.
With the help of rich and unexplored material of that era found in photo albums, folklore or museums,
and by looking at the political, economic and social history of the country, we will initially attempt to
capture the real characteristics of the urban Greek family, in the way they were reshaped after the end
of the destructive World War II.
We will then explore the grounds on which the print advertising in the country seemed to be
drastically affected by the US advertising standards that dominated the global landscape of post-war
trade. Through this practice we will discover that the post-war Greek family started to be presented
through the American stereotype in which it was not involved at all in reality. The presentation of mother
/ wife / homemaker, the role of father / husband as well as the sophisticated image of children seemed
not merely to abstain from the daily routine of the average Greek family image, but to oppose to it, both
aesthetically and practically.
But how did the - mostly - female readership take the fabulous display of the ‘new Greek family’
which was based on the American standards and what was the final effects of this type of advertising
on the post-war average Greek family consumption behaviour? Did it work effectively or it simply
constituted a comical and silly manner which endangered the new products consumption? All these
questions will be answered with the help of much photographic/advertising material found in many rear
women’s magazines of the era, and some valuable, though small in volume, literature.
Keywords: print female advertising, post-war Greek family, American advertisements, consumption.
Tsoumas, J. (2015): The effect of the American stereotypes in the formation of the middle class Greek
family image in the post-war print advertisements. Arte, Individuo y Sociedad, 27(3) 395-412
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2015, 27(3), 395-412
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ISSN: 1131-5598
http://dx.doi.org/10.5209/rev_ARIS.2015.v27.n3.45628
Johannis Tsoumas
The effect of the American stereotypes...
Resumen
Esta investigación pretende evaluar las primeras revistas publicitarias para mujeres producidas en
masa en la Grecia de la posguerra, a consecuencia de la identificación, el análisis y la morfología tanto
de la imagen familiar como de la imagen ideal de la clase media griega.
Inicialmente, vamos a tratar de captar las características reales de la familia griega urbana, con la
ayuda de valioso e inexplorado material de esa época encontrado en álbumes de fotos, folclore o museos,
y la observación de la historia política, económica y social del país, teniendo en cuenta la forma en la
que ésta fue reformada después de la destructiva Segunda Guerra Mundial.
A continuación, analizaremos los fundamentos por los que la publicidad impresa del país pareció ser
afectada drásticamente por los estándares de publicidad estadounidenses que dominaban el panorama
global del comercio de la posguerra. A través de este ejercicio, descubriremos que la familia griega de la
posguerra empezó a ser presentada mediante un estereotipo americano con el que, en realidad, no tenía
absolutamente nada que ver. Se presentaba a la madre/esposa/ama de casa, al papel del padre/marido así
como a los niños, con una imagen sofisticada que no solo se abstraía de la rutina cotidiana de la familia
griega corriente, sino que se oponía a ella, tanto estética como prácticamente.
Pero, ¿cómo se tomaban las – en su mayoría – lectoras esta fabulosa exhibición de la ‘nueva
familia griega’ si estaba basada en los estándares americanos? Y, ¿cómo afectó este tipo de publicidad
en la conducta consumista de las familias corrientes griegas de la posguerra? ¿Funcionó eficazmente
o simplemente constituyó un cómico y absurdo modo de exponer los nuevos productos para su
consumición? Todas estas preguntas serán contestadas con la ayuda de material fotográfico y publicitario
encontrado en algunas revistas de la época para mujeres, y algo de valiosa, aunque escasa, bibliografía.
Palabras clave: publicidad impresa dirigida a mujeres, familia griega en la posguerra, publicidad
americana, consumo.
Summary: 1. Introduction, 2. ����������������������������������������������������������������������������
Family and historical / social context, 3. A brief look at the american economic power attainments, 4. Women and family magazine ads in the U.S. and Greece, 5. Morphological
and social analysis of advertising, 6. Conclusions. References. Endnotes.
1. Introduction
The print advertising and all the more so the popular women’s magazines of the era
of our interest, has been an important indicator, albeit secondary, of overexertion that
Greece made a few years after the two wars (World War II 1940-45 and Civil War 194549), during the period of reconstruction, to be reborn through industrialization. This
finding thus leads to the valid conclusion, that Greece, although in an underdeveloped
region of southern Europe, which in the following decade fueled the industrial North
with unskilled labor, reached, even in politics, the high production and consumption
level of respective countries (Kalfopoulos, 2008: 5, 6).
Another observation concerns the typological understatements of that era: the
majority of ads were either based on a person or they directly advertised the product,
in one rather prolix logo, compared with today’s criteria, while the connotations
and abstraction were rather unfamiliar concepts to remarkable advertisers. At the
same time there were apparently some “threads” which, by today’s standards, would
plough not only into the “political correctness” but also into gendered stereotypes.
The family was one benchmark of great importance in the semantic interpretation
of these stereotypes, as well as the way in which it was viewed and promoted, it
being seemingly inversely proportional to the social conditions prevailing in the
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young middle class, in the consumer dynamics of which this kind of advertising was
addressed. But what exogenous stereotype was behind this new advertising campaign
aimed at subjecting the average Greek family to unprecedented consumer frenzy? To
what extent could the pattern of traditional, urban Greek family have been distorted
through this new outlandish invasion of new lifestyles and consumption? At first,
we shall attempt to make a reference to the average Greek family of the immediate
postwar period through the historical/social context of that time, and will proceed to
highlight the importance of women’s magazines of the era and the ads posted in them,
focusing on the family. Finally, through analyzing some types of ads we will focus
not only on how they were fashioned, but also on the importance of the roles of the
Greek family key players, as such were staged to increase the consumption of goods,
whether imported or not.
2. Family and historical / social context
The postwar period in Greece evolved at different times and was diversely experienced
by people who came from the tempests of the 1940’s. On the one hand, large-scale
changes occurred, such as urbanization, industrial development and immigration
and, on the other hand, reactions were developed within a divided society that often
refused to negotiate with its past and was unable to rationalize its dilemmas such as
the Cyprus case or the political prisoners issue.
For the first time in the period 1952-631 a process of urbanization of the Greek
population occurred, where the ratio of rural-urban sector was reversed in favor of
the latter, the main site of absorption being the urban area of ​​Athens. Moreover, the
mass movement from the countryside to cities was accompanied by the rapid growth
of foreign migration. The structural changes that occurred were recorded primarily at
work (forms of employment), at consumption and government measures to stabilize
and develop the economy. The development of communication networks, the spread
of cinema, and the emergence of tourism brought into contact wider sections of
society with the lifestyle of industrial society. It was during this period that the then
government authority of the country turned its interest towards the developed Western
countries, mainly the US which had already made felt its military presence in the
Mediterranean region, asking for help and support. It was not late before the new
images of the lifestyle of Western societies introduced in Greece which were peculiar
of a new model of consumption, began to influence the Greek buyers, especially
those belonging to the shyly emerging middle class2 (Tsoumas, 2007: 13, 14).
Within this sociopolitical context, the family was the basic cell of the newly
emerging middle class as a haven of healthy emotional support, financial security and
personal care of the family group members. Then the marriage lasted “for life” and the
perception of the inextricably tied couples who were planning their lives according to
the duration was taken for granted. For the traditional family of two spouses and their
children, marriage represented a holy and steadfast institution which guaranteed not
only security, but also social reputation and fertility. However, it should also be noted
that the classical model of the family, was not nonnegotiable on its composition, and
could include other relatives such as parents, grandparents, or even uncles, aunts and
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cousins. This type of extended family was often called the family of three or four
generations because it contained the three generations of parents, grandparents and
children, who usually lived, if not under the same roof, at least on the same street or
in the same neighborhood where their regular contacts were established.
Apart from the traditional, narrow reasons according to which the closely related
persons used to form the profile of an extended family, there were also practical
/ economic ones. Grandparents contributed at home both with their pension and
raising grandchildren while the parents had, at the same time, secured apart from a
substantial financial contribution, the safe and healthy upbringing of their children.
For the children themselves the profit was double since they had their four closest
people deal with them and care for them, sometimes even to the point of exaggeration.
(Papaoikonomou, 2013: 180).
Figure 1. Greek middle class extended family photograph in a typical family party, Athens, 1950s.
For both the peasants who swarmed into the major urban centers due to urbanization,
and the working class or bourgeoisie the classic model of family was considered
very conservative because its features remained patriarchal. For this reason, it was
assumed that both the fixed values ​​and attitudes that it developed should be handed
down to future generations intact (Moussourou, 1999: 35). More specifically, the
stereotype of the husband - father was sacrosanct and non-negotiable. This diptych
was undoubtedly the head of the family, as it was he who took the decisions and had
overall responsibility for all aspects of the whole family. He represented the family in
the outside world, struggling to feed them, to ensure their interests and protect them
from any attacks (Kogkidou, 1995: 85 -86). When the family car broke down it was
him who would repair it and If a strange noise sounded in the hallway it was him
who would look for what had happened. So, as he was the dominant male member
of the family and its symbolic head, he was usually the one who would ultimately
impose discipline. Many children of that time still remember their mothers’ usual
“threatening” phrase: “I will tell your father” or “when your father comes home, you
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will see what has to be done”. As he was at work for the largest part of the day, he would
always employ his mind even in the evening when he would be back home. However,
at that time the father figure was generally assumed to keep children at a distance
sentimentally as from both parents children knew the fewest about him. All these are
of course quite different compared to the patriarchal families that characterized the
Greek postwar province. There we will meet a father stereotype who would cause
more fear to children than respect, i.e. a hard - authoritarian and unapproachable
father and husband as well (Christoforou, 2012: http://www.ygeiaonline.gr/index.
php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7564:rolos-father&catid=157:relations
hips).
The role of the woman on the other hand - as we will see more analytically in one
of the following chapters - , was coordinating and connective as a symbol of love
that used to bind family and complement the role of man. Despite the allegiance she
presented to her husband, her contribution to the survival of the family was very
important (Tsaoussi, 2006: 27). For example, her role in the education of children,
the provision of household and general financial management of the house was
fundamental (Pantou, 2006: 17).
But especially during the 1960’s the parallel continuing presence of women in
the labor market was strongly associated with the rise of educational level, a rise
that took place at a faster pace than that of men. In any case, both the change in the
economic functioning of the family and the paid work of women constitute key factors
shaping the structure and dynamics of the average urban family and contributing to
the dependence of its stability and consistency upon individual abilities and desires
(Panselina, 2003: 6).
In the postwar Greek family one member, the child, had acquired a leading role
as an objective which the marriage and creation of family relied upon. The postwar
hardships in material and intellectual goods created an excessive focus on efforts to
educate children, a pervasive anxiety and pressure on their performance at school and
it is no wonder that success of children was closely linked with the promotion and the
psychological uplift of parents themselves.
3. A brief look at the american economic power attainments
As economic historian Alan Milward wrote: “the United States emerged in 1945 in an
incomparably stronger position economically than in 1941”. By 1945 the foundations
of the United States’ economic domination over the next quarter of a century had
been secured. This may have been the most influential consequence of the Second
World War for the postwar world (Milward, 1979: 63).
Trying to rebuild a stronger future on the economic debris left after the war,
American society became more affluent in the postwar years than most Americans
could have ever imagined before or during the war. Public policy, like the so-called
GI Bill of Rights passed in 1944, provided money for the war veterans to improve
their education level by attending University or College classes, to buy or to construct
new houses, and to invest on farming. The overall impact of such public policies
could not be easily calculated, but it certainly contributed in returning veterans to
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ameliorate themselves and to begin forming families and having children in really
high numbers (the famous ‘baby boom’).
On the other hand, in terms of productivity development, the changes were
enormous. The rapid growth of automation technologies aided manufacturing, while
wholesale and retail trade benefited from the new highway systems, distribution
warehouses and material handling equipment (Bjork, 1999: 67), oil became the basic
form of fuel, replacing coal in many crucial applications, especially in locomotives
and ships and unemployment was severely reduced.
However, not every single American citizen took equally part in these improving
life chances and consequently in the growing economic abundance. Both the image
and reality of overall economic well being - and the upward mobility it provided for
many white Americans - was not lost on those who had largely been excluded from
the full meaning of the American Dream, both before and after the war. As a result,
such groups as Afro-Americans, Hispano Americans, and American women became
more aggressive in trying to win their full freedoms and civil rights as guaranteed by
the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution during the postwar era.
In order to really understand what went on during this prosperous period often
called The Golden Age of Capitalism, it is important to look at the rate of profit.
The global economy would create conditions for very high investment rates, high
output growth, low inflation—and surprisingly—low unemployment (Marglin, 1992:
2). The Golden Age trends in accumulation, profits, investment, output growth, and
employment are associated with particular historical conditions. Therefore, they
laid the basis for many institutional arrangements that urged capitalism toward the
mixed economies of the 1950s. Further more, the threat of communism and the US
victory in World War II established the terms of the Pax Americana. Internationally
this meant an upgraded role for the US, which had already been the main creditor of
World War I.
After World War II finished and while the American social / political and cultural
map, following the economic growth of the country, presented many significant
changes, the institution of the family remained strong, intact and inviolate symbolizing
the traditional comforts of home which was affiliated with the joys of family life.
This basic social condition was not considered insignificant by the US advertisers
who were trying to discover new targets for the promotion of different types of
products which were produced in astronomical speed at the time. Advertising started
to exploit all this new social and economic change in favor of the new, dynamic
national or multinational companies and even whole industries, including television
and commercial aviation, which started to spring out rapidly in the country. The
interpretation of this status quo of well being in commodities and consequently in
advertisement promises, inaugurated a new era of culture the basic core of which
was, of course, the American family, the most important consumers target, according
to the advertising agencies of the time.
4. Women and family magazine ads in the U.S. and Greece
The abundance of goods and, consequently, advertising can be semiotically
interpreted as the ultimate expression of prosperity, happiness and balance of the
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average American family whose basic stereotypical members (father, mother) were
highly idealized. The male stereotype seemed to still prevail both in the simply social,
and in the deeper conscious field of the Americans, which became readily perceived
by the advertisers. The decisive and dynamic husband / father characterized not only
by his intense professional lifestyle, but also his traditional supporting role in the
family (primarily in economic terms as usually his professional obligations left him
aloof to the family duties which would normally, cog his wife’s shoulders) was the
main pivot of most advertisements related to the specific consumer group.
In the decades that followed, the US governments’ intention to convince people
that “despite the unfortunate fact” of the emerging U.S.S.R. power, the country was
one step ahead (which was interpreted into an anxious attempt to overproduce military
equipment and systems, in general), found application in the fields of consumption,
and - by extension – advertising. Characteristic examples are the national symbols
of the ‘nuclear cloud’, but also the American nuclear bomb’s exterminating speed,
that is two important technological and cultural elements of the then American power
which, transferred to the fields of mass production and advertising, acquired mythical
significance. The post-war American advertising seemed to manage significant
historical events in a utilitarian way, using certainly mass consumption and the
corresponding technological achievements of industry such as cars and appliances
as inciting gears (Heimann, 2003: 4-5). At the same time, scientific breakthroughs
and aesthetic development seemed to affect both the less economically powerful
classes of the country and Europe, with products that would later become the
benchmark for western civilization, such as plastics of a mainly specialized type of
production (nylon, Lycra, Teflon, Plexiglas, etc.). Mass production as well as the easy
automation devices absorption by the large consumer masses, travelling by plane,
advances in electronic technology and the space exploration were some of the unique
achievements of the era that dawned after the Second World War.
As in the postwar US, so in Greece ads had always reflected the mood of society
to forget its recent, painful past and to look optimistically to the future of hope, to
taste new products that once had been denied or were completely unknown. The
benefits of peace seemed to coincide with the abundance of numerous imported, as
well as, domestic, commercial products that represented the free and ever-growing
competition of Greek firms.
The role of women in the US according to the up to then mighty manliness stereotype
had often been supportive in the family. It was not by chance thus that women in the
postwar period in the country became the main focus of most advertising-related
products referred to the family, the image of whom appeared highly embellished and
beautified. The American advertising, especially in the 1950s, was not just indicative
of a convincing sales strategy with a focus on the woman and her family. At the
same time American ads were meant to be exemplary proposals of social mentality
of decency under which the average American family should be brought to live in the
conservative, conformist spirit that the ads called for (Sivulka, 1999: 235-237). This
was another ingredient in the successful recipe of the advertising myth which we can
now see and experience in the mass consumption culture of our time.
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In Greece, especially during the pre-television era, i.e. before the typical
appearance of television in 1966 and its substantial expansion in the 1970’s3, the
printed press - primarily newspapers and, incidentally, magazines - seemed to invade
in an ever-increasing manner the Greek households. The “consumption” of the content
of these publications of entertainment and information to the buying public began
then to be a daily, and at the same time, necessary reality. Advertising as a mythical
mirror image of the economic / consumption system of the country found fertile
ground in the pages of these publications and often followed the legacy of American
standards to shape its aesthetics, but mostly semantic view (Cheretakis, 1977: 20-25).
The women’s magazines were the first forms of printed material with semiotics on
gender which grew rapidly and this can hardly be regarded as a coincidence. Such
publications typically included lightsome articles for the wife, home and family. Their
partly closely-written color pages were full of social, dramatic, emotional, historical
novels of fascinating plot and content, as well as vignettes, exotic stories and many
of them would also include famous photo-romances, which were a primary form of
the current TV serials. Through these, women were presented as “romantic, helpless,
irritable creatures, too emotionally dependent on men for support and guidance.”
The magazines had of course a much longer life than newspapers, so the advertising
messages were much lengthier and more efficient. Some of the most popular women’s
magazines of the era were: Domino, Vendetta, Thissavros, Eikones4, Ergocheiro, O
Tachydromos, Gynaika, Pleksimo and of course the legendary Romantso whose sales
had gone as high as 280,000 sheets weekly5.
Emphasizing on women who, depending on each case, seemed to perform
different roles, assuming sometimes the role of wife, some others that of mother, or
of housewife or sometimes all three together, the image of the Greek family made
its dynamic appearance in the early advertisements in these magazines which were
considered as the ideal venue for hosting these messages. But what was true about
the actual position of women in the Greek postwar society? How did they become
the centerpiece of the advertising campaign in the postwar Greek consumption? The
Greek mother / wife / housewife had always been a weak, but also dynamic stereotype,
because she was always considered a “queen” at home, but “nothing special’ out of
it. The “theory of separated spheres” on which the public sphere rightfully belongs
to men remained still in force as ‘unwritten law’ before and after the Second World
War. According to this theory the public action of women was not prohibited, but it was
supposed to be in line with their obligations in the private sphere: they did not have
to endanger the unity of the family, by distracting the woman from her “main” duties.
Additionally, under this theory, the “natural” position of women was their restriction in
the private sphere where they were to act as mothers and wives. In the private sphere, the
man could also perform his “natural” prerogatives as the head of the family. As both men
and women were still being socialized by learning the traditional division of roles (male =
supplier and woman = housewife) and the traditional division of space in private - female
(house) and public - male (market), the tasks of household activities and childcare were
not equally distributed between the sexes. Despite the fact that Family Law in all modern
states required full gender equality within the family, housework and childcare were still
the primary responsibility of women, as indicated by the relevant sociological research.
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This absorbed great deal of the time and energy of women, thus leaving them less room
to seek professional opportunities, to compete with men on an equal footing for a place
in the labor market and to ensure their economic independence, and consequently their
power and influence within society (Tsaoussi, 2012: http://old.phs.uoa.gr/~ahatzis/
SGH08.pdf).
This entire theoretical dimension of only one part of the so-called woman question
was seemingly perfectly fit in the social position of the Greek women after the Second
World War. Housewife, wife and mother, the Greek woman of the rising middle class
as well as of the lower class, was rarely getting away of this tripartite emblem of the
long scale of moral values that she had been taught almost from birth. The concept of
“honor” which was always identified to this often fatal, karmic role was the bridge that
connected the moral of the female sex and society, and ratified the status of the Greek
woman. Furthermore the “inviolability” of this “honor” was considered a precondition
for the success of this triple role within the family stereotype. The Greek mother, wife
and housewife of that period should be simple, accessible and faithful to her children and
husband, effectively responding to the needs of the home and family, a housekeeper in
managing the family budget and thus thoughtful and careful in how to spend the money,
dynamic in difficulties, pleasant in social contacts, stylish with an elegant appearance. In
the pre- capitalist, post-war Greek society and unlike the male character of many, mainly
public, areas (cafes, football stadiums, police, army, the Parliament), the house was for
the woman her undisputed realm. There, she could perform all these tasks which were
translated into a type of pro bono work, except that it was a full-time employment. The
work of the Greek woman in the house was only recognized as being “real” quite a few
years later. Nevertheless, this work did not entail lower social status compared to paid
employment. Often, the career was a taboo for women of that time and especially for the
married women. Besides, the labor market in Greece was divided by gender, in the sense
that professions were divided into “male” and “female” ones. The female occupations
had much lower wages, fewer opportunities for professional advancement and less
social prestige than male occupations. The majority of women were mainly employed
in unskilled and semi-unskilled manual jobs or in low-level, white-collar positions. The
senior management positions, such as bank directors, chairmen or CEOs of companies,
and prestigious professions, such as doctors, lawyers, engineers or academics, seemed to
be a purely masculine space.
As most domestic advertisers had already discovered the recipe for success
promoting advertising messages based on the social value of the family in the US,
and being aware of not only the importance of the family ideal for the Greeks but also
of the crucial role of the Greek housewife, they attempted to introduce an identical
model in the corresponding Greek advertisements. But was that effort proportionate
to the reality experienced by the average Greek family in social, aesthetic, economic
and moral terms? Did such type of ads look like reflecting the true - even embellished
- person of postwar Greek family and its essential needs? Or was it merely a corrupted
and distorted picture of the true image since it did not consider the key morphological,
moral and cultural characteristics?
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5. Morphological and social analysis of advertising
Looking carefully at the ads on family of the two important decades that followed
the Greek Civil War, we can identify several coincidences and similarities with their
American counterparts. After such a devastating war, it was clear that the necessity
of advertising to an “extrovert” and “purely Mediterranean” people who had already
had a lot of frustration from the four hundred years of the Turkish occupation and,
at the same time a huge appetite for consumption greater than that of a bulimic
elephant, was imperative. Delayed Greece finally “discovered” the full qualities of
advertising during the 1950’s in a speed of light way. The country seemed to start
worshiping every version of black and white or color, print or radio, painting or
photographic advertising type; this way advertising managed to leave its trace in
the collective memory of the Greek family and to be associated with its concept.
For the historian of the future though, a complete record of ads would be suffice so
as to draw safe conclusions about the character of the Greek family of that era, its real
and artificial needs, its harmful or harmless passions or its pragmatic utopian desires
and of course its degree of intelligence and its resistance, to a, many times, American
sense of humor.
The majority of ads that prevailed during that period were those who addressed
directly to the ‘secure’ Greek family target group, rather than to individuals such
as women, men or children of particular age groups or classes. More specifically,
however, the ads which - according to American standards - included the participation
of all family members for products which could be used by all family members, were
the most successful. So advertised products related to the house cleaning or the body
sanitation, clothing, food, entertainment (in the home context), but also the use of
public goods such as electricity or water, were the most characteristic of the time.
From a morphological point of view, the Greek print ads of the 1950’s were almost
peculiar to the American model, as the conservative logic of American consumer
society imposed certain ways of advertising performance, particularly those related
to individuals and social institutions.
So in that decade we will see that photography was not the main morphological
center of the Greek print advertisements, as it was by itself a direct form of
information for which the Greek reading / general public was not yet ready. Most
advertisers presented the family and its surrounding area - always according to the
American standards - through drawing and painting forms and / or sketches, color
in many cases, trying to give in this way the ads the aspect of illustrated fairy tales
(Bettelheim, 1995: 21).
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Figure 2. A characteristic print ad in color drawing form, 1957.
The vivid colors and patterns of people and objects in bold outlines, constituted
another key point in our analysis as they referred to the functional value of posters
of past decades, highlighting in the most ideal way both products and family as a
group of consumers. There were of course cases in which the use of photography was
permitted, provided, however, that it had undergone an intense process to incorporate
it in the total advertisement design. It should be mentioned that the technique of
lithography was very helpful in producing this type of advertising.
Instead, the ads of the 1960’s seemed to eliminate this fabulous glamour and focused
on the emergence of the Greek family through modernized methods of representing it,
such as the use of photography and in some cases editing. The advertising companies
of the time along with those which had already been established (GRAPHIS,
SPOT, Ammirati Puris Lintas, Katzourakis - Karabot, ALEKTOR etc.) began to
systematically form themselves by hiring graphic designers, text editors, account
editors and were soon turned into “full service” companies. According to their
techniques and ideas the dynamics of the photo of that period would not seek the use
of color, as it was, by itself, a direct message, especially in the first years of the decade.
This is why we can observe that too many of these entries were black and white (this
can also be connected with the great success that the classic black and white Greek
movies of this decade used to enjoy6 (Vatouyou, 2006: 251, 252). All this happened
because the sultry embrace of photography by the fine arts had not made its presence
felt. The painters still despised the photo without feeling threatened by it, while the
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photographers enjoyed the recognition of artistic work, without hoping that they
could ever compete painting in its already frantic speculative route and especially the
one that the previous decades print advertising had indicated.
As part of the morphology of the ads various persons were also displayed
in any advertisement that promoted products for the average Greek family. So in
the advertisements of 1950’s we can witness an almost unchanged application of
the stereotypes of American families with persons whose characteristics differ
significantly from those of the members of an average Greek family of that era. By
contrast, the 1960’s required the use of models that bore the characteristics of the
Mediterranean average Greek family, which made ​​this type of ads more believable
and therefore more successful.
Figure 3. Models with Mediterranean features were used in this print ad, 1964.
Of particular interest are the ads from a sociological point of view as well. Τhe
importance of using gender stereotypes in shaping an advertisement was great in both
decades of our interest. We should therefore focus on how the US advertisers - and
by extension their Greek counterparts - exploited these stereotypes and created these
promotional messages.
We observe that in many of the ads of the 1950’s, the symbol of mother/wife
dominated almost every advertisement. In advertisements where the family was a
quorum, the woman usually stood out in some way; for example, she was placed
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higher than others. In others, she was a prominent figure who, in connection with her
children, created the “atmosphere” of a healthy and happy family, even without the
presence of her husband, which in many cases looked like as if it was not necessary. In
this case the woman was supposed to be responsible for any need related to parenting
or home, because beyond any doubt it was the woman who assumed not only the
financial, but also the moral management of the family. It should be noted however
that this model of family, which can be interpreted as a single parent family, did not
represent in any way the Greek society, much more so the Greek family. Surprisingly
enough, it was considered quite successful in terms of consumer influence.
Figure 4. The American family equality concept was applied in this Greek ad, 1965.
The American social revolution of the 1960’s under which the woman was
released from her bonds within the marriage and in the family reached the middle
class Greek family through this type of advertising. The repressed Greek woman of
the 1960’s seemed to be emancipated and liberated through the advertisements of
women’s magazines of the time, demanding a fair and equitable relationship with
her husband in the family. The husband / father role was presented to be sweet and
benign, with love to his wife and child, ready to offer his services for his upbringing.
This was perhaps the most beautiful part, though extremely unreal, of the advertising
story, and inspired thousands of Greek women readers who vainly sought such a
marital relationship.
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There were, of course, ads which induced not only the characteristics of family
equality, but also the feminist excesses of the American culture, which had nothing
to do with the Greek reality. More as a form of revenge for the repressed decades,
the ads that discredited the previously non-negotiable and strong male, marital role,
probably functioned positively in the wake of the purchasing capacity of the Greek
women. On the other hand, though, the emancipation feature of the Greek advertising
focused exclusively on women as units, i.e. as a new, independent and self-reliant
consumer cell, cut off from the fundamental concept of the family. This was quite
natural as the role of the liberal and anti-conformist woman did not seem to be at all
compatible with the Greek - but even with the U.S. - stereotype of the average family
of the time.
Figure 5. A characteristic print ad showing the much desired women emancipation in the family, 1967.
According to the above, children’s stereotypes were similar in nature: in most
advertisements children sometimes appeared in bold Saxon features, innocent,
excessively fed and, consequently overweight, blond and cheeky, i.e. by following
the strictly American model of 1950’s. However, this type of children was essentially
non-existent in the postwar Greek urban but mainly provincial societies. Most Greek
children of that era brought overt signs of deprivation, poverty and hardship, that is
the main features of the lower social strata of the time. Furthermore and despite all
these, they still kept their originally Greek features which were totally incompatible
with the idealized, rather superficial American physical lineaments. Although as we
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have already mentioned these stereotypes changed the following decade as they were
replaced by a decent, Mediterranean type of models, children continued to occupy
a special place in the advertisements of these magazines. The main reason was that
children in the family were used as another important pole of promoting products
focused on eating and clothing items, thus participating in the major consumer game
of the newcomer US multinational companies to Greece.
6. Conclusions
If we look up the words of Baudrillard we would understand that “...advertising itself
is now the most important means of mass communication, having managed not only
to override the importance of media conveying and communicating it in the mass, but
also to usurp it... “(Baudrillard, 2005: 146). By this logic the Americanized ads of
postwar Greece which tried to capture the new reality of the average Greek family,
have also succeeded to hijack the myth of the media that hosted them and create in
the female readers and consumers many hopes, be they falsified or not.
As the political, economic, and cultural context of the newly-fashioned Greek
reality was directly affiliated with the American imperatives in shaping a new status
quo in the Mediterranean and the Balkan Peninsula, it is no wonder that a new form
of advertising proposals was created according to which the middle class Greek
family would rather have strongly American characteristics. Here, we have to note
that the American culture, and thus consumption postwar model was established
internationally, first because the Marshall Plan7 flooded Europe with American
products, secondly because the US excelled both economically and technologically
and thirdly, because in the context of the Cold War the US treated their superiority
in cultural patterns through which they aimed to dominate towards the Soviet Union.
The material culture Shows and Exhibitions organized by these two rival countries,
especially the US, in order to showcase their ideology constituted one of the main
themes of the era (Haddow, 1997: 212-217). At the same time, the creation of a Greek
“star system” (the domestic cinema) which offered new stereotypes, evolved along
with the changes observed in the messages sent by the print advertising of the time.
Since mid 1950’s, the print advertising became more aggressive, pushing higher and
higher the threshold of the socially acceptable consumption. Especially during the
1960s consumption started to be the only guarantee of happiness in the family and
personal lives of the purchasers, as it reached the point of being the most important
means of personal satisfaction, social recognition and career advancement. And if the
word “America” ​​was directly affiliated with the meaning of consumption, dream, the
Promised Land, myth, welfare, gender equality, happy and prosperous family life, the
ads of such kind were welcome by the female readers of these magazines which de
facto sold through their pages the same hopes and the same dreams that the American
culture advertisements promised. Women, the most important figures of the middle
class Greek family and consumption, were inextricably connected with this type of
advertising which seemed to shape in a unique way the social, cultural and financial
profile of postwar Greece.
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Endnotes
1. The largest category of buildings constructed in the major cities of the country (Athens,
Thessaloniki, Piraeus) since the early 1950s to the mid 1960s were massive blocks of flats
so as to accommodate people who came to these urban centers for work.
2. As during the post-war years a large part of the Greek population was economically and
socially impoverished and the state was completely dependent on the U.S. economic
aid, the country fully adopted a western- culture which was nothing but a sui generis
ideological compilation linking anticommunism, the Greek Orthodox Christian ideal and
the American dream. The middle class made then a timid comeback until it became a
stable, almost gigantic social net in 1981. This was stimulated by the rise of Andreas
Papandreou in power and the farmers, workers, employees and small professionals
entrance to the forefront of the political and economic life of the country.
3. The official opening of the Greek television dates on February 23, 1966 to Helen
Kypraiou be the first female presenter. Over the years the program of the then E.I. R.
(National Foundation of Radio-Television) expanded and in 1969 ​​was connected to the
circuit of Eurovision to broadcast the landing of U.S. spacecraft Apollo 12. In 1975, after
the political changeover, the state TV was transformed into the organization named ERT
(Greek Radio and Television).
4. This female magazine was set up according to the American Life Magazine standards. It
soon became its accurate Greek version as it was based on advertising and photography,
something that could be witnessed even by its title (Eikones means Images in Greek).
5. We should note that these magazines were particularly in demand in the Greek province
where entertainment opportunities were less than in the capital.
6. In the 1960s, the Greek cinema ushered in a period of great prosperity. Several companies
were created that raised both the number and the quality of films compared to the
international productions of the time. The annual panorama of the Greek Cinema, the
Thessaloniki Film Festival, started in 1960. In the same year, Melina Mercouri won
the award of the Best actress in the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in the
movie “Never on Sunday” and Manos Hadjidakis got the Oscar for the music of the same
film. It was the time that the Greek cinema opened its borders and Greek actors became
international stars. At the same time it constituted the basic form of entertainment for the
majority of the Greek people, and especially those of the province.
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7. The term “Marshall Plan” is associated with the American financial support of many
European countries after the Second World War. It was a figment of the postwar US
foreign policy and it aimed at halting the prevalence of communism in Europe which
would jeopardize the interests of the United States. This is probably why Greek ads both
in type and morphology were a little different from other European advertisement models
of the time, especially from countries - such as Western Germany, Italy, UK, Portugal,
Sweden and so forth - which, along with that financial aid, adopted many American
cultural or/and social habits,. This of course meant nothing less than the beginning of
cultural globalization which the international community suffered from in the late 20th
century.
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